Deli meat has always felt like a devil's bargain. Although I'm under no impression that anything in a package of Salsalito turkey is net-positive for my body, it tastes good enough that I'm willing not to think too hard about it. However, that thought process has been possibly permanently altered by this week's CBS News report about a Boar's Head plant in Virginia with "dozens of violations," all of them deeply gross.
In July, Boar's Head issued a recall on a liverwurst and other items made at a facility in Jarratt, Va. This move was made in connection to a listeria outbreak that has as of writing killed nine people and hospitalized 57, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Later that month, Boar's Head expanded its recall to 71 products and 7 million additional pounds of meat. Further digging by CBS News found that over the past year, U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors have made many visits and logged numerous violations at that plant in Jarratt, using impressively disgusting turns of phrase for such a document. Upton Sinclair, barf your heart out.
Obviously, I did not imagine a deli meat processing facility to be pleasant. Surely a place that creates deli meat is going to get deli meat everywhere. But those employees at Boar's Head really got that deli meat everywhere. The larger issue is that the plant wasn't cleaned and maintained properly, so that gross but otherwise expected "meat residue" led to hazardous problems like bugs, mold, leaks, weird substances, and much more. Bad things were happening in the Pickle Room.
What follows is a curated selection of the nastiest sentences, presented unedited, from the full document, with the dates on which inspectors logged them. They are presented in chronological order, and they are reminiscent of some scientist's diary excerpts you'd find in a Resident Evil game. The wisest decision would be to read this after eating, while first making sure what you're eating doesn't have any Boar's Head products in it.
- Aug. 3, 2023: "Heavy discolored meat build up was found on the pump itself, the inside covering, and built on the floor."
- Aug. 3, 2023: "Both scales were opened showing large meat pieces, gloves, wads of pieces of wood, plastic, a brown mud like substance and trash. With an obvious odor. The meat was no longer pink it was grey/white in color."
- Aug. 16, 2023: "The chicken mixer had meat over spray and meat/protein build up on the leg framework and bottom of the machine."
- Aug. 31, 2023: "In the Netted Hams department, a belly board was found to have small pieces of meat residue on its food contact surface."
- Sept. 29, 2023: "Upon entering Bologna Kitchen standing water was noticed."
- Jan. 9, 2024: "A black mold like substance was seen throughout the room at the wall/concrete junction."
- June 10, 2024: "The cure cooler man door in the back right corner of the room insects were observed. 7 ladybugs, 1 beetle like insect, and 1 cockroach like insect."
- June 10, 2024: "The rooms walls had heavy meat buildup, pink/orange discoloration, and denaturant over spray on them."
- June 26, 2024: "The walls had denaturing liquid splattered, dried meat, and pickle."
Enjoy your lunch.
